Shō-bek Empire
The Shō-bek empire was a sprawling kingdom that was destroyed in the Imperial War . History 1. First age (150B-105A) a. Shō and Bek families rise to power until war—so long that they end up combining languages and cultures and eventually being able to talk to each other i. Realize their religions are basically the same (bc of diffusion) and end up starting the tradition of God Emperors… b. Shō-bek-ad (b.0, r.30-59) i. Destroyed all historical records before the union ii. Changed name—means child of Shō-bek (Shō-bekar means union of Shō and bek) iii. Built army to stop families breakin apart again iv. After securing city’s unity, began expansion, but died soon after leaving a son c. Shō-bek-adun (b.33 r.59-95) i. “Son of Shō-bek-ad” (male child) ii. Continues expansion to west, exterminates natives, builds Port Cornea iii. Smaller cities ally, Shō-bek-adun leads army himself to finish them off, and dies in the battle d. Shō-bek-adun-un (b.68 r.95-105) i. Son of Shō-bek-adun/grandson of Shō-bek-ad ii. Shōrt lived… 2. Aliqirr occupation (105-166) a. Aliqirr empire sweeps in from Mediterranean zone and conquers everything b. Put Shō-bek-adun-un as a puppet official so he wouldn’t oppose them c. Introduce democracy and new architecture d. Try to change their religion and that’s the final straw i. Feather Shan incites an uprising and kills Aliqirr boss Al-Aean, forces dissolve. ii. Absorbs aliqirr into Shō-bek 3. Third Age (166-267) a. Abis I (b.120, r.166-198) i. They don’t have a descendant of Shō-bek-ad so they elect Abis I after faking some miracles 1. No one remembers his campaign ii. Captures Averro and expands east to mediteranean zone iii. Later known as “the only abis worth a damn” b. S’lene (b. 178, r.198-238) i. Elected after eating a dozen poisonous snakes ii. Captures a bunch of islands off the coast and starts trading with gyujei iii. Initiates trading with qytesian plains iv. Grants Averro its freedom and changes it to a protectorate instead of a colony v. Generally considered one of the best god(dess) emperors c. Urōr (b.201, r. 238-267) i. Elected bc ppl thought his parents were scorpions ii. Utilizes Shō-bek river as port and starts trading to the max 1. Furs from qytesian plains 2. Sail through marshes to yaemaumie in gyujei to get exotic stuff 3. Practical goods from averro 4. Would sail down river av into lake ava and trade with raglands nomads iii. Huge economic expansion for everyone 1. Qytet puts more value on furs because ppl want them more 2. Averro starts to become really fond of money and thus begins their randian wetdream social structure 3. Gyujei hears about all the lavishness going on and once it spreads to yaemaumie they freak out and decide to be more isolated but not entirely iv. Gets crunk as hell 1. Things start going downhill a little until he dies of alcohol poisoning, which was probably good timing anyway 4. Civil War Era (267-401) a. Argead (b. 242, r.267-280) i. Was always more religious and conservative and thought the role of god emperor was more suited for conquering than trading and drinking urself to death ii. Elected after willingly traveling through the raglands and al-kindi desert iii. Expands south to raglands and has avira mercenaries destroy averro iv. Tries to go into qytesian plains but they end up retreating into one area, to become the city of Qytet 1. There they put their full power into defense and wipe out his army v. Falls to his death from a tower, possibly on purpose b. Diadōch (b. 254, r. 280) i. Steward to argead but is later removed because he was never actually elected 1. It really just depends on how the Shō-bek are feeling at the time as to whether or not theyre down with successors or actually voting c. Abis II (b. 259, r. 280-309) i. Had All Sorts of Sex and hella offspring 1. Favored Abis III (obviously), only one who lived in the palace (b. 284) a. Only daughter of actual wife, Ylatta (pronounced Lata) instead of concubines 2. Seor ended up as a concubine of Abis II, which is really messed up but so is history ii. Ylatta got pissed about him spending more time with concubines than with her and started tellin Abis III lies to manipulate her 1. Actually the daughter of the river Bek, Abis II was killing people, poisoning the river 2. Made her drink Shō-bek’s equivalent of absinthe iii. Abis II Managed to retake Averro iv. Abis Civil War 1. Abis III and Ylatta poison Abis II and take power 2. Abis loyalists fight against them 3. Both armies at a standstill for a while 4. Seor rallies support from the people because none of the commoners give a heck about the war and end up overwhelming both of them, killing Abis III herself, but Ylatta fled d. Seor (b. 284, r.309-335) i. Massacred the 20 other heirs ii. Lived the rest of her life in luxury and didn’t do much, good or bad, for the empire in general iii. Ylatta later returned with an army to kill her, but failed iv. Died of saltwater poisoning, never discovered if intentional or not e. Ankhis (b. 300, r. 335-357) i. Performed fake miracles 1. Hatched a phoenix 2. Stabbed, poisoned, multiple times, survived ii. Unfair tax reforms iii. Enforced police state kind of policies iv. Rationed resources unfairly v. Lavish feasts and gold errywhere vi. Mandatory draft of children for coming Dränt War 1. Sent them around the Cornean range for surprise attack 2. Originally the badlands were much before they attacked 3. Hurt Dränt significantly but at cost of 100% casualties vii. People hated him f. Pelōsar I (b. 329, r. 357-401) i. Originally an activist, became leader of a rebel group 1. His son was drafted 2. Took power in civil war ii. Reformed class structure/economy iii. Built irrigation systems and infrastructure iv. Tried to establish family rule but didn’t last… 5. Dränt era (401-) a. Pelōsar II (b. 369, r. 401-419) i. Next in line of succession from Pelōsar I ii. Lost Averro again in revolt iii. Commissioned the colonization of Pelōs to try to save face 1. Worked pretty well and is fondly remembered iv. Killed by advisor b. Angol (b. 396, r. 419-466) i. had Pelōsar II killed and took power ii. Wrecked the economy iii. Wasted resources iv. War to reclaim Averro 1. Termes becomes hero 2. Inevitably lost b/c poor planning despite Termes being not terrible v. Eroded relations with Dränt bc he was a rude idiot c. Termes (b. 449, r. 466-518 i. Famous from previous war, used in campaign 1. Held a hill for a month against an army until reinforcements arrived 2. Killed general ii. Higher taxes to get funds to try to fix the economy iii. Statue of self on palace complex but not at a huge cost iv. Nickname = tyrant v. Took occupied territory of gyujei for resources vi. Still needed more--Second Dränt war began (Pelos falls in 479, news confirmed in 482, debate 482-485, 3 years building army and drafting plans, war proper from 488-513) vii. Victory in 513, infection starts gaining momentum in 514, civil war 515-518, and fall in 518 6. Post-imperialist era (518-present) a. Shō-bek is later reinhabited i. Community of survivors and averro escaped slaves b. Expect to get big quick and have economic influence but investors are too scared of infection to actually deal with them c. Agriculture’s pretty good tho, and they only have like 3-5 outbreaks/year.